Corporate & Securities Law

EU Raids Pharmaceutical Firms ? Again

By David Fischer

Once again the EU has performed some dawn “raids” on the offices of pharmaceutical firms.  Bloomberg reports:

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., the world’s biggest generic-drug maker, Denmark’s H. Lundbeck A/S and other pharmaceutical companies were raided Wednesday by the European Union as part of an antitrust investigation.

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The inspections mark the fourth time drugmakers’ offices have been visited since the EU started a probe of the pharmaceutical industry in January 2008. The EU has focused on whether manufacturers misuse patents and lawsuit settlements to keep less-expensive generic medicines off the market.

Commission officials conducted a surprise inspection at Teva’s office in London on Wednesday, according to Yossi Koren, a spokesman for the company. The raid followed an EU inspection of Teva’s Paris office in October.

Lundbeck, the Nordic region’s second-largest drugmaker, said in a statement its Milan office had been inspected. It said it expects the raid was a follow-up on a 2005 visit and that it didn’t address any new issues.

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Full post as published by Antitrust Review on December 11, 2009 (boomark / email).